Brad in Boots Travel

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Near Catastrophic finish to major holiday

A week or so ago I nearly had some issue with my intentions to travel overseas with close to 9 weeks off on the count down. Somethings you can prepare for and others, you have to go with the flow and see where you end up. I dont know if I would have had to change huge parts to the trip away due to any medical procedure as I could have still been recovering or become tired.

Deciding that I required new glasses and sunnies, I went to get my eyes checked. I wanted to pick them up before I went on holiday and to look cool. Also I was overdue to get my eyes checked as you do. The spanner was thrown into the works as the optometrist was concerned over what he thought was a problem. He had a feeling that I had a detached retina or coming close to it in my right eye. I required to see an eye surgeon for a second opinion.

As time was ticking by, I wanted to get looked at and I had a referral. The first lot of people were not in the office that day. I got mum to arrange things in the afternoon as I was heading to work. By the time I arrived, I had a doctor and referral arranged. The surgeon arranged that had done my left eye when I had a detached retina way back in the early 2000’s. I did have to visit the surgeon and there was the worry that I might require surgery before I left and they knew my tight timeline.

There were two techniques they could use and only one was going to be possible. They could get the jelly out of my eye (Sounds gross) and put in gas, which would not be ideal for a plane as gas expands. The other option was some sort of oil that would slowly correct itself but would be removed through another operation. Once the surgeon came in for a loving gaze into my eyes with a bright light. The verdict was there wasn’t anything wrong apart from vision changes. I was told no surgery required and no extreme sports while on holidays. I was very relieved as I really did not want this to happen. I cannot go diving as a I have a buckle on my left eye from the last lot of surgery. No idea what skydiving would do.

The lessons to this, is always have travel insurance well before hand in case something like this occurs. I have had mine since around September last year when I was buying flights. I slowly buy things as I go on. I was happy that I was back to getting new glasses even though my right eye had changed in regard to prescriptions. At least I would not be in Far off Europe with vision problems related to surgery and not have time off from work at the same time too. If there are major problems and I don’t see that there would be any, the surgeon has a list of people I can see within Europe that are trusted. I have all bases covered and one mega 8 week journey to look forward to, along with new glasses.

My old glasses are bent, battered from years of service especially when they get thrown off your face when walking into a fridge that has flaps. Soon I will have the new pair and can see clearly now that the sun is out. I can move on with looking at the basics towards my epic journey. No changes or challenges that are out of my control will be sorted out.

Monday, March 4, 2019

There’s an App for that – Travel Countdown

Random sunrise Gold Coast Airport 2016

The European adventure planning still keeps on giving plenty of gifts and learning experiences as I go along with sorting out my travel plans. These travel plans are down to the part of planning where you purchase tickets for transportation. I am using public transport throughout my journey through Germany and England. I am tweaking some of my trip to see what happens.

I plan early with the theory that I can be provided with cheaper tickets to the locations I am visiting. So far I have found this to be true. I compared the ticket prices between Copenhagen and Stockholm, that recently came online. The beginning of June the first class tickets are around $50 Australian Dollars with the second class being cheaper. Fast forward or rewind to two days from now and they were around $180 AUD or more. I never did check the second class tickets closer to the time, but I would assume they were expensive too. I did the same with the tickets from Hamburg to Copenhagen, but I never checked the price closer to the date.

I know my entire itinerary as I have it printed off and in paper form within a folder with an email address that I have my entire itinerary located within a folder corresponding to that particular period of travel as a backup. I was caught out twice with not having the correct information. Once was several nights away last trip in the UK as I was staying with a friend. I never printed the booking or recorded the date. The email had been sent to my regular email and the person back home in Australia had retrieved all emails onto the physical computer. So, I had ‘lost’ my booking as it was physically on my computer back home in Australia. Apparently, I had made a mistake with the date anyway, which I had wanted to find out. Mobile internet wasn’t really a thing around 9 years ago. Another was actually in Huntly, New Zealand where I had made a booking, but printed the reply off. Turned out it was a reply, but the person doing the booking did not actually make one. Luckily it worked in my favour and I ended up in a 7 bed room.

I did sign up for an app with the German railway line known as the DB Navigator app. The interesting thing is the online ticket is mostly English telling you where you are sitting and the carriage with seat number. I booked a seat for the 5 hour journey between Frankfurt and Berlin. The trip to Copenhagen from Hamburg had a mandatory reservation. I think that is for the ferry. The App seems easier to understand than the paper print off, I made. The self-check in part is also interesting and I have no idea how useful this actually is and where I would have to check in if there are no gates. Something to find when I am over there. I have to remember that Europe does things differently from Australia. I might need to observe the trains to understand what happens.

There will be other things that I might experience along the way including some keys that are accessed through an app. That will be something to see and find out how it works. I have no idea who or what places are the ones that require the keys though. Hopefully I get a physical key or card and something like my phone doesn’t ‘wipe’ the data and the door opener. Had that happen at one place constantly. As long as I have access to food on the trains then I will be happy and have no problems. There could be an app for that as well. The travel passes seem to have gone the same way like the Berlin Pass and the other ones too. We shall see what happens at the time. Shall be fun and the time is getting closer and closer.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Ever closer to the epic European Adventure 2019

Not taking my trusty bike

There is around three months to go before my trip away and my last travel blog I wrote was back in August. Obviously by now I am a bit more organised with my trip away. During this period, I have finished my bachelor’s degree in Historical Inquiry and Practice. Also, I have graduated with a trip to Armidale to collect my degree. I could have blogged the trip away, but it wasn’t really that huge of a trip. The degree explains why I am planning my trip around some historic locations with a history flavour.

Guide books

During this period, I have changed the travel arrangements even though I am still heading to the same locations. Logistics seems to be a huge part of organising my trip away. I had to go back and review what I could physically accomplish. One part of my journey in the UK, I had thought going from Portsmouth to Brighton and finish in Canterbury by train would be fun. The journey became very expensive. Looking at the UK Rail journey website it gave me a calculation of around £40 or $72 Australian dollars. Deciding I should review the large expense, I managed to find rail and coach to Canterbury via London to be around £12 or $21 Australian dollars. A huge difference in prices. Although you cannot book UK rail journeys until you are 12 weeks away, I had no problem booking a coach journey.

More travel guides and reality checks

The fun part of looking into the logistics has been the ability to book my German railway tickets around December. Don’t know what First Class would be like on the journey from Frankfurt to Berlin would be, but I aim to find out and the ticket emailed to me was in German. In the last week I was able to book my tickets online to Amiens in France, but they will be mailing my tickets out to me for free. The rest of the railway tickets I have to wait for the next few weeks before I can start making my reservations. There are some travel blogs I have used to give me an understanding of some of the railway stations and even some travel in Europe.

I have been listing what I am wanting to see while at every location, I am visiting. This means including long lists under the destination. I now have a 9 or so page master list that I will print off before I leave. It doesn’t mean I will see everything, but there are some sights I do want to see like one UNESCO listed cemetery in Stockholm, grave of Jules Vern in Amiens, Tyne Cot Cemetery in Ypres. There will be some locations that I will include onto my Youtube channel too as there is always plenty to see. I have to remember to pace myself and there are some guide books that I have found I would over extend myself if I even try doing what I want in one whole day. I have wanted to do the Waterloo battle site and the Herge museum (Tintin) on the same day, but realise I might actually be asking too much when the train journey between the two locations is around an hour. There is the Smurfs museum in Brussels and the Captain Cook museum in Whitby. I am doing some family tree research while I am floating through the UK, right after Brexit so hopefully there is no huge teething problems when I am visiting.

There have been potential problems that I would not say that are extreme in any way. Problems that could cause some delays. I accidentally found I had booked my stay in Copenhagen during a five-day music festival called Distortion in May. I had wondered why accommodation in Copenhagen was being booked out and then you have the travel articles calling Copenhagen the travel destination of 2019. The house, dance and Techno music isn’t the type of music I usually listen to, I have bought a ticket to this event as I will have night entertainment. My accommodation is next to the railway station too, so should be interesting. I am staying in the red-light district in Frankfurt, but its not a real problem at all. I think it would be entertaining especially after getting off a long flight. I have been checking websites for updated entry times to sites like Dover Castle. Around December the website said it would be closed the day I wanted to visit and when I checked back a week ago, I found that it would be open on the day I wanted to visit. Last time I was in the UK the castle was closed during the week in winter. I do have to remember other countries are not like Australia where many tourist destinations close in the chilly months.

To make my life easier with museum entry and travel, I will get hold of the local travel passes for example the Frankfurt Pass that grants entry to museums and other tourist destinations within the city. Not every location I am visiting will have one, but I think it will make my journey through the cities interesting. I have reached out to some museums through Instagram and even Twitter to ask questions and they have answered my questions. Social media seems to be gaining a huge footprint in tourism in 2019 and could become bigger. The trip is always getting closer and they days does seem to be moving quicker. I have never been on an eight week holiday before so it should be interesting and budgeting for the entire time.